ONGC set to work on helium plan

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is set to commence work on its first helium extraction plant at Kuthalam (Tamil Nadu) at an estimated investment of Rs 200 crore.

To test the waters, it will initiate a Rs 5 crore pilot project to extract helium, mainly used as the coolant in modern nuclear reactors, in five months.

The fallout of Pokhran II nuclear tests saw the US impose sanctions on India for import of helium. An apex committee comprising delegates from the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, and Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, put forward the technical feasibility of setting up the helium extraction plant about a month back.

A source confirmed that ONGC chairman Subir Raha has agreed to a Rs 200 crore grant for a full-fledged helium extraction plant, if the pilot project proves successful.

According to projections made by K C Koshel, group general manager (chief labs), ONGC, the Kuthalam plant, once operational, has the capability to supply the country's entire helium requirement of 1 lakh cubic metre a year.

The pilot plant would process around 50,000 standard cubic meters of gas per day and would carry out purification in three stages.

The first stage would rid the gas of hydrocarbons, while the second stage nitrogen will be eliminated and the third stage would be the adsorption process.

"In view of the national interest in the project, ONGC will overlook feasibilities or profitability of the project,"a industry sources said.

It is ONGC's way to contributing to the energy security and developing nuclear energy as a key component for the future," industry sources said.

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) is also helping ONGC understand various cases of extraction of helium around the world. SINP advised ONGC that there might not be a need for huge investments that a cryogenic plant would entail.

Instead helium is adsorbed on a catalyst (a carbon based pellet) and later is desorbed. The catalyst is to be imported from the United States and is not considered a strategic chemical.

"India's atomic establishment received a shot in the arm with ONGC finding helium in Kuthalam which has now raised hopes that we could attain self-sufficiency in the gas. Helium is commonly found in hot water springs in the order of 10,000 to 20,000 parts per million. In Kuthalam's natural gas the availability ranges from 200 to 1,800 parts per million," source added.